


Screening

by disillusionist9



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Canon Compliant, Gen, Headcanon, Hogwarts, Pre-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8209765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disillusionist9/pseuds/disillusionist9
Summary: His early years, Harry remembers several moments with clarity where he reacted with the wizarding world before the Letters from No One. Why did our Boy Who Lived never attract mountains of fanmail to his door, if all it takes to send a letter is the owl to know your name and where you are?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Post originally from ghostoftheshriekingshack on tumblr, asking why, if Hermione got all the hate mail afte the Prophet posted slander about her, Harry did not get mountains of fan mail his whole life?

Albus sipped his tea as a dull thud, the third in an hour, landed in a bin in his private office. This time the sound was loud enough that Minerva looked up from her pile of start-of-term paperwork to look around for the source of the noise. Her eyes scanned the room swiftly before dismissing it as a log on the fire displacing itself or the rustling of a robe sleeve. Another _thwump_  echoed, and her spectacles clicked as she pulled them off of her nose.

“Did you hear that, Albus?” she asked.

Severus scoffed quietly, fully aware of the extension of the man’s meddling, and continued to write notes on his own pile of parchment. The other Heads of House, Pomona and Filius, looked at Albus with unguarded curiosity. The Headmaster continued to stir more sugar into his tea as if he did not have six inquisitive eyes on him.

“Nothing to worry about, Minerva,” Albus said, when the eyes didn’t waver, holding out an approved list of potions ingredients for Severus to owl to the apothecary.

Minerva glanced at her fellow Heads, specifically Severus who was acting infuriatingly _aware_  of something, like he usually was when it concerned Albus’s interference with Harry Potter’s affairs. Before anyone could raise a hand to stop her, she shot up and went towards the open door. Filius tracked her movements from his perch on top of several textbooks. He nearly fell off his perch when an enraged scream flowed from the office, dropping his cup of tea to shatter on the floor so he could use his hand to grip Pomona’s sleeve.

“Are these what I think they are?”

Brandishing several unopened envelopes like a cluster of daggers, she stalked over to Albus’s desk. He still read his paperwork over the half-moon spectacles delicately balanced on his nose. “The boy-”

“Has a right to his own letters!” Minerva’s face reddened in dark blooms starting on her high cheekbones, eyes alight with fury. “And you’ve known about this?”

Severus looked up cooly at the accusation directed his way. He said nothing at first, keeping his features calm, except regarding his colleague with a world-weary stare. His frown deepened as he enunciated each word carefully. “If you continue to hold onto that blue envelope, Minerva, you may feel an unavoidable urge to run away from home to live with… _Yosef Kallen,_ as addressed.”

For all that she didn’t like the situation, Minerva trusted Severus to tell the truth, and dropped the pile to the floor immediately. She felt small, watching the seemingly innocent envelopes on the floor morph into much more vile tokens, the innocent exteriors belying nothing of the potential danger within for the Boy Who Lived.

Pomona’s hand was over her mouth, and Filius shook his head, all five watching the pile of mail for a seven year old Harry Potter disappear back into the private office with a wave of Albus’s wand.

The rest of the meeting passed in silence.


End file.
